Soyinka, Wole - Death and the King's Horseman (Hill & Wang, 1987).pdf

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Based on an incident that took place in
1946,
Death and the King's Horseman
is
Soyinka's powerful examination of the ex­
plosive tension between traditional African
culture and the West. The king of a Nige­
rian village has died, and Elesin, his chief
horseman, is expected to "commit death"
and accompany his ruler to heaven. The en­
tire village joins in honoring him, until a
colonial administrator learns of the ritual
and decides to imprison Elesin rather than
permit the suicide. Elesin interprets this
intervention as an act of the gods, but soon
comes to regret his decision, as the villagers
repudiate the man who was once so special
to them. The play's unex pected climax
comes when Elesin's son, on leave from
medical school in England, preserves the
honor of his people by dying in his father's
stead.
"Death and the King's Horseman
blends Eu­
ropean literary theater with total-theater
traditions from the Yoruba tribe in South­
west Nigeria. Through poetry, chorus, pol­
itics, and storytelling, Soyinka both
entertains and asks subtle questions about
mass psychology, individual psychology,
and
universal
human
struggles
of
the
will."
-The Chicago Tribune
WOLE SOYINKA
was born in
1934
in Nigeria,
and studied at the University of Leeds. He
was director of the Drama School of Ibadan
University in Nigeria until
1967,
when he
was arrested for writings sympathetic to
secessionist Bia f r a and impri s oned for
twenty-two months. Soyinka's other writ­
ings include
A Shuttle in the Crypt, Madmen
and Specialists,
and
Idanre and Other Poems.
In
1986
he became the first African writer
ever to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Lit­
erature. He is president of the International
Theater Institute.
HILL
AND
WANG
19
Union Square West
New York
1000 3
8090-3 793-9
38711445
DEATH
AND
THEKING,S
HORSEJ\1AN
by the same author
A SHUTTLE IN THE CRYPT
MADMEN AND SPECIALISTS
IDANRE AND OTHER POEMS

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